''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' () is a 2024

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

about India's struggle for freedom in 1942, based on the life of

Usha Mehta Usha Mehta (25 March 1920 – 11 August 2000) was a Gandhian and independence activist of India. She is also remembered for organizing the Congress Radio, also called the ''Secret Congress Radio'', an underground radio station, which functione ...

, a brave young girl who starts an underground radio station to spread the message of unity, setting off a thrilling chase with the

British authorities His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

during the Quit India movement. It is written and directed by

Kannan Iyer Kannan Iyer is an Indian filmmaker and actor. He has written films like ''Daud (film), Daud'' (1997) and ''Victory (2009 film), Victory'' (2009); and has also directed a supernatural thriller, ''Ek Thi Daayan'', starring Emraan Hashmi, Konkon ...

and produced by

Karan Johar Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...

, starring

Sara Ali Khan Sara Ali Khan Pataudi (; born 12 August 1995) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Born into the Pataudi family, she is the daughter of actors Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan. Khan is a recipient of a Filmfare Award and appeared in ...

Alexx O'Nell Alexander Leonard O'Neill (born 26 July 1980) is an American actor and musician who works in Indian films. He is best known for his roles in the films '' L2: Empuraan'', '' Ae Watan Mere Watan'', '' Khufiya'', '' Golondaaj'', '' Roohi'', '' Aarya ...

and

Emraan Hashmi Syed Emraan Anwar Hashmi (; born 24 March 1979) is an Indian film actor, who appears in Hindi films. Initially known for performing bold scenes, Hashmi has since portrayed strong roles in films. One of the most unconventional actors of India, H ...

. The film premiered on 21 March 2024 on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

to mixed reviews from critics.

Cast

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

commenced in October 2022 and first schedule ended in December. The second schedule began by April 2023 and the film wrapped up in May 2023.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Mukund Suryawanshi, Akashdeep Sengupta and Shashi Suman while lyrics were written by Suryawanshi, Ravi Girri, Rohan Deshmukh, Darab Farooqui and Prashant Ingole.

Reception

Critical response

''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' wasn't well received by critics. A critic from ''

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

'' gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' is worth watching as it presents an untold chapter of Indian history."

Sukanya Verma Sukanya Verma is an Indian journalist and film critic. She has been the principal movie reviewer with web portal '' Rediff.com''. She has written a number of columns as a freelance writer for ''The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English ...

of ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

'' gave 3/5 stars and observed "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' tries to get a grasp on the mind of youngsters, shaped by the words of inspiring leaders, committed to the cause of independent India. It's significant because their support isn't based on 'andh bhakti' (blind devotion), but leadership that encourages questions".

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, editor and documentary screenwriter. He was a columnist at ''BBC News'', ''Business Standard'', ''Hindustan Times'' and '' The Financial Express''. He has also written for ''The Telegraph'', ''The Tim ...

rated the film 2.5 out of 5, opining in his review that, "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' makes its points with clarity and directness. It tells a tale that has meat, but the storytelling style that the film adopts stops it significantly short of being either consistently riveting or memorably rousing". He criticized the lead performance, opining that, "Sara Ali Khan, playing the principal character, is way too porcelain and dainty to convey the remarkably doughty woman's fierce determination." Zinia Bandyopadhyay of ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote that "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' drowns in a lacklustre script despite having the potential to be an effective story."

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

's Lachmi Deb Roy, in her review, rated the film 2/5 and said that "Though the film was able to weave the freedom movement with enough human stories showing Usha’s contribution to the Quit India movement, but ''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' was unable to give us those goosebumps which a freedom movie generally does".

Shubhra Gupta Shubhra Gupta is an Indian film critic who writes for ''The Indian Express''. She received the Ramnath Goenka Award for Best Writing on Cinema in 2012. She was a member of the Central Board of Film Certification from 2012 to 2015. She is the au ...

of ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

'' called the film a "banal blur". She panned the film, opining that "nothing about this period drama breaks out of familiar moulds" and that "Sara Ali Khan leaves little impact." However, she called Sparsh Srivastav the "breakout star", praising his performance as a

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

-afflicted young freedom fighter.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt19864942 2024 films 2020s Hindi-language films Films set in the Indian independence movement Amazon Prime Video original films 2020s historical drama films 2024 biographical drama films Films set in the British Raj Indian biographical drama films Indian direct-to-video films Indian historical action films 2024 direct-to-video films Cultural depictions of Mahatma Gandhi Indian historical drama films Films set in the 1940s Indian World War II films World War II films based on actual events Films set on the home front during World War II Films about radio Films about radio people Films set in Mumbai Films shot in Mumbai Films about disability in India History of the Indian National Congress Cultural depictions of British people Works about polio Films scored by JAM8